Being the coach of a team, you would know the importance of trust within a team to be able to excel. Faith grows when the individual experience a fair share of psychological safety within the team environment. As a coach of a team, it remains your responsibility to ensure that actions which improve individual psychological safety are continually pursed by psychological safety is grounded in knowing that even if you make a mistake, you won’t be punished. When this kind of security is present within the team environment, individuals feel the freedom to speak their minds, to stick out their necks and to be creative. This leads to improved team performance.

Conflict should be Used to Collaborate, Not Alienate.

Regardless of how much humans love to win, we will always hate to lose even more. Hence whenever a situation arises which creates conflict within your team, it is best to find a solution where both parties can feel as if they are part of a win-win situation. Going into battle with the expectation that you both can walk away from the location as winners, is decreasing the possibility that someone would settle for the fight-or-flight approach. Collaborating a solution which will resolve the matter for all parties positively, is an excellent tool in any couching’s box of tricks.

Speak To Each Other On The Same Human Level

In a team, there are certain positions of importance. This can be based on social status, respect, autonomy and even competence. When entering a situation where confrontation needs to be resolved, it is better to promote reflecting on the fact that all team members have thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams, and the list can continue. Don’t approach someone with the differences in a position separating you from each other, instead, contact the situation reflecting on the similarities binding you together. When a coach approaches a slacking player, the best wouldn’t be to do it from the perspective of being in a leadership role and speaking from a position of status, but much rather stick to an approach of one person, talking to another on the same level of humanity.

Prepare for Conflict

Before entering a situation where conflict is present, it is best to prepare for the likelihood of a couple of possible scenarios. People don’t always hear what was said, and actions aren’t still perceived as they were intended. Hence be prepared to get a variety of responses and know how you will go about to stick to your principles and real intent.

Stick to Curiosity and Refrain from Blaming

When someone might suspect that they will get blamed for a specific action or scenario, they are already on the attack and not open to finding a resolution to the matter at hand. Avoid sounding like you are planning to place blame on anyone and rather ask questions out of genuine curiosity. Instead of pretending that you know everything, remain open to new learning experiences.

Often discussing the great and the brilliant in the industry, it would only be a balanced approach to take a glimpse at the opposite end of the stick as well. Knowing that Premier League is notorious for being very difficult to manage, who are the top five performers delivering the worst results in the history of Premier League management?

Ian Holloway at Crystal Palace During 2013

Holloway had the reigns of Crystal Palace in his hand for the 2013/14 season. This was during a time when they were experiencing difficulty in the top division, straight after winning promotion from the Championship. Under his guidance they have played eight games of which they only managed to win one, giving them an average of 0.38 points per game. This resulted in Holloway being fired, and it proofed to be an excellent decision for the team, moving up into 11th place afterwards with 45 points to their name.

2012, the Year of Terry Connor at the Wolves

Terry Connor truly has a reputation for being very nice, but he struggled severely in Premier League. Connor took over from Mick McCarthy. Unfortunately, the team was unable to win any games of their 13 played. Four draws brought in enough points for a 0.31 average on points per game. The Wolves ended up with a mere 25 points at the end of the season, and they moved back down to Championship, while Connor moved back into a more comfortable position of assistant manager.

Double Whammy for Mick McCarthy at Sunderland

McCarthy did it twice for Premier League at Sunderland. Once during 2003 and then again as manager during the 2005/06 season. From 37 games Sunderland managed to win two. Leaving them with a total score of 0.27 points per game. Thus they ended up at the bottom of the list with only 15 points achieved.

Derby 2007/08 season under Paul Jewell

Jewell took over a losing Derby team from Billy Davies, and he too was unsuccessful in bringing the team around again. He had his challenge cut out for him since keeping a promoted side in the League is a daunting task. During the season Derby did manage to set up a record, but it was for the lowest number of points at the end of a season ever. Not the kind of history any manager is hoping for. Derby played 24 games, lost 19 and had drawn on 5. A total of 0.21 points per game.

Crystal Palace Did It Again in 2017 with Frank de Boer

De Boer is famous for being the only manager in Premier League not to have scored a single point during the season. De Boer had grand plans when starting and wanted to get a new style of playing in the Crystal Palace team, but they were just only not up to it, and it led to great misery. They played four games and lost them all. His stay was short-lived, and he was fired relatively soon without ever earning any points in English management.

Curiosity or for bragging rights, it is good to know which sports are considered as the most challenging and brutal in the world. If compared in endurance, agility, skill, speed, physicality and strength, which ones will rise to the top as the toughest? Here are the top five.

At Number Five – Ice Hockey

Firstly note that this rating is given without considering the fighting, which is a regular feature on the ice. Speed and physicality are the highest-ranking attributes for this sport. It requires a good share of endurance to chase a puck with a stick for sixty minutes on ice. Dribbling a ball with a stick at high speed demands high levels of skill too.

At Number Four – Rugby

Rugby can sometimes appear like a bunch of thugs in a brawl. Probably also the reason for rugby not having any superstars flashing their fame, for the rugby field is most likely the place where you will get knocked down for being flashy. Brutal in many ways, requiring you to run through a wall of defence much rather than going around it. It is a high impact, physically demanding 80 minutes of running around requiring endurance and strength.

At Number Three – Boxing

This one is so straight forward; it is hard to find the proper words on expanding on it even more. Except for the high impact factor, the primary physical challenge, speed, endurance and strength which it requires, it also asks for mental toughness. Whenever any boxer gets into a ring, they know pain is an undeniable factor, and they are bound to get hurt. Then they still get on with it and delivering their best.

At Number Two – Aussie Rules

Rating on a global scale of sports played internationally, yet unless you live in Australia, you might not know what it is. Also referred to as footy by the natives. This game is played with a football-like ball on an oval field, and teams need to score by getting the ball through the posts on opposing ends of the area. This can be done either by punching or kicking the ball. It sounds easy, but the endurance required is massive, and the physicality involved is challenging.

At Number One – Water Polo

With the action happening under the surface, this Olympic sport is easy to miss out on as being the toughest. Still, it requires much of the same act of any handball played on solid ground; it only happens in the water. You can expect a lot of grabbing, kicking and other sly moves which require much physicality. The games require strength and speed, and the fact that players aren’t allowed to come in contact with the bottom of the pool is increasing the endurance requirement even further. Making this sport, mainly accessible in eastern European countries, the toughest competition in the world.

Resilience is as essential in life as it is on the sports field. Sometimes things don’t work out as planned, and then when life hits hard, you still need to have the resilience to stand up and fight back. This is a common scenario during any sports event. When one competitor or team is having an overhand above another, the ability to get up in the face of possible defeat is a skill which comes naturally for some and needs to be coached to others. Following are some advice from Olympic Gold medallists on how you can coach your athletes into being resilient in the face of defeat.

Personal Development is Key

It is essential to instil the concept with your athletes that it is vital that they compare their performance against their own. Comparing your achievement with those of others can be an unnecessary cause of strain and anxiety. These can hinder athletes from delivering their best results. In the end, it is about competing against yourself, improving your skills, techniques and performance and developing yourself into the athlete you want to be. As a coach, you want to do the same and compare an athlete’s performance only against their own and not that of others.

Handle Setback as Opportunities to Create Growth

Setbacks will happen. It is needed to happen. Without delays, you will have no reason to improve. It can be easy if delays are a regular occurrence, to get stuck in a negative place of being mentally defeated. Every setback can be analysed and be transformed as a learning curve. It is your responsibility as a coach to set the example of this during team talks.

Know Why You Want to Win

Determination is built from a clear vantage point on the end desire. The better your understanding is of why you want to win, the more attractive winning seems, and the higher the desire to win grows. As a coach, you must ensure that your team is convinced of why they want to win. They need to be able to experience a personal hunger and desire for achieving success to get up from a wrong position and march forward to be triumphant.

Creating Positivity

Sometimes a coach can find himself in a place of misery, stuck with a team who are not motivated at all. Every practice session is experienced as some form of obligatory punishment, and the entire course is riddled with negativity. A coach needs to be clear on the fact that coaching this team has been a choice made. This isn’t an obligation, and you had an opportunity to be here or not. The same goes for your athletes. They must remember that they chose to do their best and to deliver their best efforts. Always keeping in mind that what you are doing has been a choice that gives an improved sense of control over your life. This leads to a much more positive and productive outcome in the end.

Over time female coaches in the NBA became a more familiar face in a male-dominated world. A few women have, however, shown their value by contributing to their teams and leading them to greatness. We will explore some of these women who were the first to break through the male-dominated barriers.

Nancy Lieberman

The first woman to set a new trend when hired in 2009 as head coach of NBA Development Team, Texas Legends. Currently, Lieberman also called “Lady Magic” is an assistant coach to the Sacramento Kings and she is a head coach to the BIG3’s Power, leading them to a 2018 BIG3 Championship. Coming from a career as a professional basketball player and from a coaching position in the Women’s National Basketball Association, she is considered one of the most significant contributors to women’s basketball in history. When she was hired in 2009 as a coach for the Texas Legends, she was the first female coach ever hired to coach a male team on NBA level. When she became the assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings, she was the second female assistant coach ever contracted.

Natalie Nakase

2018 was the year to see a female coach hired for the LA Clippers. This is not the first milestone for her. During her playing career, she played two NWBL seasons. First for the San Jose Spiders followed by the San Diego Siege. She was the first-ever Asian-American player in the league.

Nicki Gross

Becoming the first woman coaching in D-League when hired by Iowa Energy, another NBA Development League. Currently employed by the Raptors 905 as an assistant coach and still the only female coach in D-League. Gross was a soccer player for Seton Hall and mostly a basketball fan who started as an Assistant Video Coordinator at Bakersfield Jam.

Becky Hammon

This retired Russian-American professional basketball player is the assistant coach to the San Antonio Spurs. During her playing career, she represented to San Antonio Stars and New York Liberty. She also played for the Russian National Team during the Olympics of 2008 and 2012. When the Spurs hired Hammon in 2014 as an assistant coach, she became the first full-time female assistant coach in the entire history of the NBA. This record stretched even further than the NBA since this position made Hammon the first female assistant coach in any of the four North American major professional leagues. When she was hired than in 2015 as head coach for the Spurs during their Summer League, she became the first-ever female head coach.

Jenny Boucek

Hired in 2017 by Sacramento Kings as an assistant coach and then moving to Dallas Maverick also an assistant coach in 2018. She was also the first-ever pregnant female coach, as she became a mother during the Maverick’s 2018-19 season. Thus showing that not even pregnancy would hold back a woman if she is set on achieving her goals and making her mark within a predominantly masculine industry.

Being the coach to a school sports team can be an immensely rewarding experience. Being involved in influencing young lives, driving them to excel on the field and off it, to achieve greatness and to inspire them to seek success. There are a few challenges in the lives of high school coaches, which is distorting the romantic idea of sculpting young minds into perfection.

Parents

Sadly, but birth parents are often a tremendous challenge in the lives of high school sports coaches. The personal investment of parents with their children and their sporting careers can often lead to conflicting ideas regarding a coach’s approach to the game plan or their child’s abilities. Some parents can quickly revert to anger towards the coach if they consider the amount of game time given to their child isn’t according to their perceived ideas of their child’s abilities. Parents can add tremendously to a team’s morale, or they can be a destructing force making the coach’s life a misery.

The Player’s Attitudes

Dealing with high school students is synonymous with dealing with a variety of different attitudes. Some not as pleasant as others. Your best player may make it a habit to show up late for practice bringing down the entire team’s sense of punctuality. Some may consider it their right to play certain positions and others may make a big deal if they are reprimanded. Conflict can rise to a level where the team becomes thoroughly divided. Therefore handling attitudes successfully and productively will always remain on the list of challenges in the high school coach’s guidebook.

Budgets Can Choke Your Success

Every school has a budget available for sports and sports facilities. This is, however, only a section of the budget of extracurricular facilities and every department head wants their share of the budget pie. To be able to deliver a proper practice session, proper equipment is needed, and this costs money. Coaches are also often confronted with extra expenses which need to be covered. Uniforms are expensive and so is going on a tour. Parents aren’t always keen on paying the extra buck, and therefore coaches are ever faced with finding creative yet lucrative ideas to fill the gaps where budget fall short from realizing a dream of a great sporting team.

Personalities Will Clash

Being a coach doesn’t only mean that you have to deal with every very unique personality in your team, you also need to deal with parents, other coaches, sponsors, department heads and many more. Conflicting personalities are bound to cross your path, and you need to be able to restore harmony when this occurs to be able to achieve the set goals and staying true to the team.

A Demanding Position

With all of these challenges which coaches needs to face, it can become a very time consuming and emotionally demanding position to be in. Often losing out on personal time with family over weekends and evenings. You need to manage this to remain in a place of having a balanced life.

The amount of wealth of famous sports heroes is no secret to the public. Compared to them, their coaches are earning only a percentage of what they do, yet their earning are nothing to frown about. Let’s explore the five highest paid coaches in the world. Not really coming as any surprise, they all have the name of a soccer club behind their names.

Diego Simeone

Number one on the list as the highest paid coach in the world, Simeone is standing on 44.5 million euros. Simeone or Cholo as his coach nicknamed him at the age of 14 due to the energy in his play which reminded coach Victorio Spinetto to the same style which Carmelo Simeone (no relation at all) displayed. He had a successful career playing for the Argentinian National team until 2002 as well as for various clubs including Atlético Madrid, the same club which he has been managing since 2011. During the 1998 World Cup against England, Simeone simulated an injury from a kick by England’s David Beckham to get Beckham sent off the field. This is the result of a healthy ever existing rivalry between Argentina and England.

José Mourinho

This Portuguese professional coach is second in the ranks of the highest paid coaches with 31 million euros. He used to coach Manchester United until being sacked by them at the end of 2018 after an incident between him and Marco Ianni, a Chelsea coach. It occurred after Chelsea scored a goal and Ianni was in Mourinho’s face showing off their goal. This led to Mourinho retaliating and chasing Ianni into the tunnel where security had to resolve the matter. The Chelsea crowds were displeased although Mourinho brought them success before moving to Man United.

Thierry Henry

25.5 million euros bring Henry into third place. The French man was recently relieved from his duties as manager of the Ligue 1 club, Monaco. He has a long history with Monaco making his debut there in 1994. Henry is considered as one of the world best strikers ever. In both 2003 and 2004 during the FIFA World Player of the Year Awards, he made it to the runner-up.

Pep Guardiola

Guardiola has been in his position at Manchester City since 2016, and 24.1 million euros leaves him fourth on the list. During his playing career, this Spaniard played for Spain and Catalonia, and since he started his career as team manager, he was employed by Barcelona and Bayern Munich before Manchester City.

Ernesto Valverde

During his playing career, the Spaniard played in the position of forward. Currently, he is the manager of Barcelona since 2017 and is ranked fifth on the list at 23 million euros. During his playing career, he played once for the national team of Spain and spent a mere 20 minutes in the game. This was during a UEFA Euro 1992 qualifier against Iceland. Spain won 2-1.